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File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [275r] (562/586)
The record is made up of 1 volume (289 folios). It was created in 15 Nov 1920-31 Oct 1921. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
Formation of the Provisional Government.
!• Th® High Commissioner reached Baghdad on October 11th. The
military position at that time and during the days in which the provisional
Government was being constituted was roughly as follows: —
(1) On the lower Euphrates the column from Nasiriyah was within
six miles of Samawah and the town was relieved on October
14th. Lower down the line the tribes inhabiting the edges of
the Hammar Lake continued to make desultory attacks on the
block-houses protecting the Basrah-Nasiiriyah line. The storm
centre was the c alim, Mirza Muhammad, who had originated
the trouble on the Hai, and from Butnijah encouraged the
insurgents to resistence.
(2) In the Hillah district, Tuwairij was occupied on October 12th, and
Karbala submitted unconditionally on the following day.
Kufah was relieved on the 17th. The submission of Najaf
followed automatically, and the hostile tribes withdrew to Abu
Sukhair. The effect of these successes was soon apparent in the
unconditional surrender of leading insurgents.
(3) Hit had been re-occupied on October 4th, but Nigris al Qa‘ud, the
hostile Dulaim Shaikh, maintained at Hadithah a menacing
attitude.
(4) On the Diyalah- the conference with tribal leaders on September
20th, had resulted in a number of submissions, but the Bani
Tamim did not come in till October 24th, and even then the
control was by no means’ complete. The terms which had been
accepted by the tribes were not adhered to.
(5) Though conditions were improving in the Kifri district there was
still a considerable amount of lawlessness, and the Hilo Chiefs,
and others responsible for the murder of Captain Salmon, had
not been brought to book.
(6) In Sulaimani, where peace had hitherto been preserved, a section
of the Hamawand raided to within six miles of the town towards
the end of October.
(7) In Mosul Wilayat the intrigues of the Turkish Qaimmaqam of
Jazirat ibn ‘Umar kept the tribes restless. The agitation cul
minated in a raid by the Albu Hamad and others on the Sharqat
road in which the well-known Arab Nationalist, Sharif Effendi
Faruqi, met with his death. He had been some time in Mosul
and was returning to Egypt.
2. Minor disorders such as those which persisted north and east of Bagh
dad were not, however, of great significance. The salient feature of the
period immediately after the High Commissioner s arrival was the rapid
success of our arms on the middle Euphrates. The fall of Kufah and tie
submission of Karbala and Najaf sealed the fate of the tribal rising and pro
foundly discredited the programme of the extremists, while it gave encourage
ment to those who had moderate views and were prepared to co-operate with
the High Commissioner in establishing a National Government.-
3 Outside the areas of disturbance public opinion was far from uniform.
In the greater part of the Basrah Wilayat there was no enthusiasm for an
\rab Government. The merchants and people of Basrah City, who had
grown rich under the British Administrtion, did not evince a desire for any
material change On the Tigris the tribal lessees of Government estates had
tound in securitv of tenure and immunity from the rapacity of native officials,
advantages which went far to reconcile them to the regular payment of taxes.
Some of the Shaikhs had lent a favourable ear to Nationalist propaganda,
hoping thereby to throw off all authority but they had been slow k> nywe
and the sight of British reinforcements had acted as a timely restraint.
Before the Hi°h Commissioner’s arrival the effervescence had subsided and tie
found a general anxiety as to the results of replacing the British by a national
administration, which was somewhat allayed by his assurances that Arab
officials would not be left without British guidance.
But in Baghdad and Mosul there was a strong desire for the immediate
establishment of national institutions. Though the soberer members of the
community were convinced of the error committed by the extremists In
rousing rebellion, and realised that British help and advice were essential to
found and <mide the new State, there yet existed an undercurrent of sympathy
About this item
- Content
This volume contains the Intelligence Reports of Sir Percy Cox, High Commissioner for Mesopotamia [also written as Iraq in this volume], based in Baghdad, covering the period 15 November 1920 to 15 September 1921. They largely relate to: the political situation in Mesopotamia and the surrounding region; the formation and proceedings of the provisional government; the events leading up to the creation of Mandatory Iraq [also known as the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration] and the election and appointment of Faisal [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] as the first King of Iraq [Fayṣal I].
The Intelligence Reports are numbered and appear to have been issued at two-week intervals. This volume contains the reports numbered 1-3, 9-19 and 21. There is no explanation in the volume regarding the reason for the absent reports. The format of the reports is a mixture of printed and copy typescript. Each report is preceded by a covering circular issued by the office of the High Commissioner indicating the British Government departments and the officers and departments in the Middle East to which the report was copied.
Report Nos. 1-3 are preceded by an assessment of the political situation described in the Intelligence Report, written by Major R Marrs.
The reports generally comprise the following sections:
- A summary of the report (from report No. 14 onwards only)
- An account of the proceedings of the Council of Ministers
- Analysis of current public opinion and allegiances, (notably an analysis of public opinion on the Amir [Emir] Faisal and his arrival in Mesopotamia, including a reference to his 'personal magnetism', f 88), in report Nos 16-19
- Notes on provincial affairs
- Notes on the situation at the frontiers
- Extracts of 'Iraq Police Abstracts of Intelligence' (reports No. 9-14 only).
Other subjects notably covered in various reports include:
- Assyrian, Armenian and Urumiyan [Urmian] refugees (report Nos. 2 and 19)
- Perceived foreign influences in Iraq (report Nos. 2 and 3)
- The withdrawal of Saiyid [Sayyid] Talib Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Sayyid Ṭālib bin Rajab al-Naqīb] from the Government and Baghdad (report No. 12)
- Kurdistan (report Nos. 12-14)
- Turkish and Kurdish Frontiers (report No. 12)
- Dair al Zor [Deir ez-Zor] (report Nos. 1 and 12)
- Notes on 'Internal Affairs' (Nos. 18 and 19)
- Analysis of the referendum result which confirmed the election of Faisal as Iraq's first monarch (report No. 19)
- The formation of King Faisal's first cabinet (report No. 21).
Appendices are included with some reports, usually comprising copies of the High Commissioner's proclamations or communications 'to the people of Iraq' or documents relevant to the particular report (notably 'Provisional scheme for the re-organisation of the law courts' and 'Report of the committee constituted for studying the irrigation problem in Mesopotamia' in report No. 9).
Each report is concluded with a Supplement or Press Bureau Report, comprising extensive summaries and extracts of newspaper articles published in the local and 'foreign' (local region mainly) press. Notable publications cited are: Al 'Iraq , Al Fallah Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. , Al Dijlah , and (Syrian publication) Lissan al 'Arab.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (front of the volume).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (289 folios)
- Arrangement
The reports are arranged mostly in numerical/chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. Report No. 18 is followed by Report No. 21 and then Report No. 19 which is the last report in the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 284; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and two ending flyleaves. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 267a.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/962
- Title
- File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1r:11r, 12v:13r, 20r:26v, 32v:34v, 35v:49v, 53v:57v, 59r:61r, 70v:74r, 75r:79r, 88r:94v, 99v:103v, 105r:112r, 113v:125v, 127v:128v, 129v:150v, 154v, 155v:171v, 178v:181v, 183v:190v, 192v:219v, 222v:246v, 249v:260r, 261r:264v, 265v, 267v, 267ar:267av, 268r:284v, iii-r:iv-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence